This photo represents my lightness of being. When I took it, I was in Manali, India…reclining on a large boulder while my friends rock hopped up the creek.

I gazed up at the blue sky and the clouds, listening to the water gush and the wind gently blow through the trees.

I hadn’t done this in a long time.

Then, two sweet butterflies landed on my knee. Their light blue wings and lightness of being reminded me of my own.

Lightness is…living in and with more radiance, vibrance, luminosity, freedom, spaciousness, fluidity and grace.

In the past few years, I’ve unloaded a lot of “weight” from my being.

I’ve released:

The heaviness that accompanies feelings of control, worry, obsessiveness and anxiety.

The need to know HOW everything will happen or work out.

The need to feel like I really should take action even when my inner being asks for rest and space.

Mistrust in my abilities to create and cultivate the life I want to live and the person I want to be.

Excuses for not moving towards greatness and expansion. Excuses for not really going for what I want. Like I don’t have what it takes. I don’t have enough money, time, talent. Silly stories like these.

Upon returning from my journeys in India I noticed on a few occasions the feelings of heaviness and pressure (remnants of the old me) start to creep back in. In one moment, heaviness would suddenly permeate my being. It was suffocating and dreary.

After the second or third time I felt this, it was clear to me that these were parts of my old ways. I had hoisted them on my back and drug them around for much of my life. They were waiting for me when I returned home.

But once I identified them, they almost immediately lightened. I internally “told” them they don’t belong here anymore. And then, disappeared.

So this summer, I am declaring it the Summer of Lightness.

While I always keep my feet rooted and connected to the earth, grounded in my truth and at one with my essence of “home”, I am now being more light about my life. I am now calling in more of the light.

The truth is, the light is always shining brightly towards us, in us and as us. We just need to be in the receptive mode for it. To own it and cherish it. Embody it. Every day.

So in the spirit of calling in more lightness, I offer you a 5 step process to create the summer of your dreams. A luminous, radiant, vibrant, freeing, spacious, fluid and graceful summer.

How to Create the Summer of Your Dreams

Write your summer story. As if it has already happened. My dear friend Rachel gave me this idea at one of her recent Chinese New Year celebrations. She had us write our desires and dreams as if we were talking about them from the future, expressing our gratitude and sharing with one another our elation and joy with what had unfolded. This is super fun. I highly recommend sharing stories with a girlfriend or your sweetie or child. Have them do the same exercise and share with you.

Visualize it and feel it. Let go of the need to know how it will work or happen. How does it feel? Visualize yourself reveling in it. Bathing in the bliss of what you desire. Every morning, visualize and feel it. Then, let it go.

Take a load off. Put your feet up. Literally. I’ve been setting aside 30 minutes a day to read my book outside. No matter how many tasks I have on my list. No matter how many errands I have to run or calls I have to make, I take this time. I prioritize this time.

Say “no” more often. With no apologies or excuses. Just say “no thank you.” Less is more. Your time is precious. Create more space in your life by discerning what fills you up and nourishes you, and what drains and depletes you. Say “no” to the latter.

Take action when the inspiration comes. Don’t wait. If it lights you up, do it. Make the call. Approach the person. Take a chance and be brave. This is your inner voice talking to you! It’s time to listen.

Most of all, enjoy the journey. Don’t take your life so seriously. See it as a fun adventure or game. Notice when your old ways of drama creating, victimhood, blame, shame, guilt, anxiety, etc. try to creep in. Notice and identify and then go do something fun to shake up that energy. Fun is the key. Make it fun.

And if any or all of the above steps doesn’t feel light or luminous to you, then by golly don’t do them!

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4 Comments on My Summer of Lightness

Dear Lisa,
Thank you for the kind and intimate sharing of your journey, as well as your wise suggestions.
I find it heartening that someone who is so full of life and light still has struggles from time to time. It makes it easier to identify with you that you still have issues and so I hope to be gentler with myself in dealing with my own. Your suggestions will help.

I miss drumming with you in San Luis. Your workshops were the most fun I have ever had in a group drumming venue. They were also incredibly empowering and joyful.

Due to health issues I have given up drumming for the time being and sold my djembe. I still wish I had been able to play the duns more, but at least I did that in your workshop and it was glorious.

Dear sweet Carol, it is so wonderful to hear from you and read your loving words. No matter how “shiny” someone’s life appears on the outside, there is almost always an inner dimension of challenge and growth happening…and we remember that we are very similar in these ways, living in these human bodies during this time in history. That life is a series of ups and downs and we get to choose how we meet life. I send so many blessings of healing, love and lightness to you on this day and every day forward my dear! I loved drumming those many times with you and will cherish the memories always!

sweet Lisa, Your words are always inspiring. I find it magical that someone can re-arrange words in such a way that clarify a feeling for me. Rachel reminded me this morning that my healing from childhood sexual abuse, stultifying emotional and verbal abuse from my father and emotional abuse from my then husband represent layers of stuff to deal with. But I know where I am headed and I know the person I want to be, both of which are good things.

Thank you dear Karen! Thank you for sharing your own story and moving forward with such courage & love. And I would challenge that you ALREADY are the person you want to be. She has existed since the beginning. She is a shining bright light… and she is learning to fly with greater ease and joy… more and more every day! We get to choose to let go….of the layers, of the stories and the heaviness. And it is wonderful to have people who we admire and respect to cheer us on and inspire us as we do so. I love you!